Egg candling question

[callieisspooky]

I started with 7 eggs in my Brinsea Mini incubator. I candled at day 7 and saw only two spidered eggs with moving embryos. The rest were as follows: clear, clear, clear, darkish (maybe large or broken yolk?), blood ring. I threw out the blood ring egg but left the rest and candled again at 10 days. The previously clear/dark eggs were mostly still clear, but now two are dark. I see no movement in any of them, or spidering. In the clear eggs, the air sac is detached, but not in the darker eggs. Should I chuck all but the two that I see with moving embryos?

This is my first hatch, and I'm hoping someone can give me advice so I don't throw away a good egg accidentally! These eggs were shipped to me.

 

[countrygoddess]

Because I wasn't sure about the dark eggs, I went ahead and left them in the incubator. Blood rings definitely go. Clear ones go when I'm absolutely sure there's nothing going on. Also embryos that have stopped moving and just sort of float in one place (i.e., have died). The thing about my dark eggs (looked like large yolks or something, like you said) was that they also had very dark shells so it was really hard to see in. Are your dark ones dark-shelled eggs? I left those in and some of them hatched. Some of the other questionable ones didn't.

Something I always did when I pulled eggs to chuck: I opened them to inspect them. You can learn so much from doing that and it will really help with future incubating projects. I never, ever had a stinky one out of about 60 eggs, so don't be too afraid of that.

 

[callieisspooky]

Thank you, I'll keep checking them! So you leave them in until you're absolutely sure - does that mean I can leave in another week or so? Or will I risk stinky eggs? I'm on day 11.

 

[callieisspooky]

The thing about my dark eggs (looked like large yolks or something, like you said) was that they also had very dark shells so it was really hard to see in. Are your dark ones dark-shelled eggs? I left those in and some of them hatched. Some of the other questionable ones didn't.

Something I always did when I pulled eggs to chuck: I opened them to inspect them. You can learn so much from doing that and it will really help with future incubating projects. I never, ever had a stinky one out of about 60 eggs, so don't be too afraid of that.

I forgot to answer your question, they are light, but mottled, with very dark speckles. Some have large patches of dark, possibly soiled areas. It's hard to see clearly. That's another reason I'm cautious about throwing out. I did eggtopsy blood ring egg to see what was going on, and there was a tiny unmoving embryo. Glad I did the right thing.

 

[countrygoddess]

Thank you, I'll keep checking them! So you leave them in until you're absolutely sure - does that mean I can leave in another week or so? Or will I risk stinky eggs? I'm on day 11.

I never had a problem with dead or unfertile eggs going stinky, even the shipped ones. It has a lot to do with your incubator hygiene. If there's no bacteria to get in and grow, then the eggs will just sit there patiently and wait for day 21 to be thrown out.